Finding Another Way
by thesilversun
Summary: Ianto doesn't go with Jack to Thames House to confront the 456. Written for comment-fic on livejournal. Jack/Ianto. Fix-it fic.


Written for Comment_fic on Livejournal for the prompt. Torchwood, Ianto, He doesn't go into Thames House on day 4.

* * *

"This is too easy," Ianto said quietly as they left the car in a side street and walked towards Thames House.

Jack stopped and looked around, eyes wary and darting towards shadows like he expected them to be attacked at any moment. "You think?"

Grabbing Jack's arm, he pulled him into narrow alleyway at the back of a row of shops. "They've been one step ahead of us all along. Do you really think they don't know we're coming?"

"Damn." Jack sagged back against the wall. "I should have thought of that."

Ianto put his hands on Jack's shoulders. "You've had a lot on your mind."

Jack closed his eyes. "They could be waiting just inside to shoot us down." His breathing sped up, a frown creasing his brow. "Do you think they'd bury me again? I can't..."

"Nobody is getting buried," Ianto said firmly, his hands dropping down to Jack's hands in his own. "All I'm saying is we need a better plan than just walking in."

"Like what, Ianto?" Jack said, sounding weary and defeated, "Because I'm fresh out of ideas here. I wish the Doctor was here. He'd know what to do."

"Well he's not," Ianto said. It sounded rather more bitter than he'd intended, so he added more gently, "We can't wait for him, you know what his sense of timing is like."

Jack grinned half heartedly. "I'm still going in there you know. You can wait in the car and be ready for us to make a quick get away. If I'm not out in half an hour go back to Gwen, tell her what's happened. I've hid from this for too long, let it eat away at me. I've got to have answers."

"I know," Ianto said sadly, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to talk Jack out of it and hating the fact that he was going to have to let him face it alone. "I'm not going to wait in the car. I've got a better idea. You know I told you got into the Torchwood mainframe using my sister's ancient laptop and decidedly rubbish public wi-fi connection."

"Yes."

Ianto smiled, allowing himself a moment of smugness. "Well I can still remember some of the Torchwood One emergency override codes which were supposed to be used in the event of something like the Slitheen sneaking into positions of power again. All I need to do is get to one of their satellite offices and Thames House's firewall doesn't stand a chance."

Jack looked at him with something like awe. "You could be a dangerous man if you wanted to be."

"Just as well I'm on the right side then," Ianto replied lightly. "There's one of the old satellite offices not far from here. Give me half an hour and then go in. I'll open any doors you need, set off a fire alarm if you need it or shut down the lifts."

"Have I ever told you how much I find confidence sexy?" Jack grinned. "Or dangerous men or women or aliens or..."

"You find everything sexy," Ianto said with a laugh. Becoming serious again, he looked at Jack, hating that he was leaving him to face this nightmare alone. "I've got to go now if I'm going to get there in time to be any use to you."

"Ianto..." Jack caught hold of Ianto's hand as he turned to go and spun him back round to face him. They paused, barely any space between them. Realising what Jack wanted, Ianto leant in and kissed him.

XXX

An hour later, securely hidden in what appeared to be a disused jewellers shop, but which had once belonged to Torchwood One, Ianto watched the Thames House CCTV in horror as Jack collapsed in front of a glass tank holding a type of alien that he couldn't identify.

Switching on the sprinkler system and setting off the fire alarms, seemed to help a few of the staff who were on the ground floor, who stumbled outside coughing and soaking wet. For the rest though there was no escape.

Horrified by what he was seeing, but unable to look away from what was on the screen, he sat with his finger nails digging into his palms and tears wet on his cheeks. It held too many echoes of the fall of Torchwood One. An office full of people who'd gone to work knowing that while they did dangerous job they were just the office staff, they'd never expected to die for it.

His voice was much steadier than he felt when he took out his phone to call Gwen. "The aliens have done something to Thames House. I think they've gassed everybody inside."

"Oh god." Gwen's voice was shocked whisper. "Ianto are you alright? What about Jack?"

"I'm fine. I was outside. Jack will be alright once we get him out."

"Can we get to him without being poisoned too?" Gwen asked.

"I wouldn't risk it," Ianto replied as he started to shut down his connections to Thames House. "They'll set up temporary morgues around Thames House for the dead. We should be ready to go in and get him before anybody sees him revive. I will be fairly chaotic with ambulance crews to start off with, we should be able to get in and out without drawing too much attention to ourselves."

"I'll meet you there," Gwen said quickly. "I'll get Rhys to tell Lois not to go back to work today."

XXX

The rows of body bags laid out in regimented rows were all too reminiscent of the temporary morgues set up in the offices around Torchwood One after the Cybermen had attacked, and Ianto felt sick knowing how easily it could have been him amongst the dead.

The difficulty of finding Jack amongst the dead was solved by Jack suddenly sitting, his pained gasp back to life loud in the otherwise quiet room.

Hurrying over to him, Ianto knelt down and quickly unzipped the bag. Putting an arm around Jack, Ianto, let closeness take the place of words. There was no need for them as Jack pressed his face against his shoulder, his breathing uneven while he tried to compose himself.

"What are we going to do now?" Gwen asked, sad and scared and angry as she looked at the dead all around them. "How can we stop them? How can we put this right?"

"We'll find a way and we'll keep on fighting," Jack said, getting to his feet with Ianto's assistance and then leaning against him for support. "It's what we do."


End file.
